


It's not so bad like this

by Anonymous



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Am I doing this wrong? Readers please tell me, Asuna/Kirito is mentioned, But I wrote it with the ship in mind while writing it, Eugeo/Kirito is honestly just hinted at, I frowned at the monitor for like five minutes because the ship tags were stressing me out, M/M, Which is why she doesn't have a character tag, but nobody is alcoholic or anything, just mentioned, mentions of consuming alcohol, so does this really need a tag?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-03 06:22:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21174866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: “Don’t worry, it wasn’t that late. You passed out pretty much right away, so you’d only been gone for around two hours by the time I was called.”Eugeo squinted at him, noticing something odd about Kirito’s sentence even through the pounding pain. “But the meeting place is around one hour and fifteen minutes away.” Then Eugeo had gotten drunk enough to pass out in less than an hour?And also, what in Stacia’s name had happened to Kirito’s date?





	It's not so bad like this

Eugeo could assuredly state that he remembered absolutely nothing. He had no idea how he had ended up safely tucked into Kirito’s bed. How many times did this make it now? Sighing pitifully, he curled further into the blanket, knowing that Kirito was probably going to check up on him soon. It was almost a rite really, though Eugeo tried to deny it. For somebody who didn’t even drink alcohol often, the number of times he’d already had a blank-out was way too high. In Underworld the few times he had gotten drunk, Kirito had been drinking together with him, but now that they were in Kirito’s world, Kirito legally wasn’t allowed to drink with him anymore. Which was a shame… and also great because at least he could rely on Kirito to save him whenever he got too drunk. Even in his current body, his alcohol tolerance hadn’t increased, so ‘whenever he got too drunk’ was every time he was roped into drinking something.

And usually they didn’t consume wine but other beverages and while Eugeo could still kind of handle sake, everything else was sure to get him drunk in basically no time.

“You’re up.”

Eugeo hadn’t heard the door open but the voice was unmistakably Kirito’s, so he forced himself to raise his upper body despite his nausea, noticing that Kirito was still in his school uniform. Oh right, today was a school day despite the fact that Kirito had a date with Asuna yesterday. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten that. Considering his work, the days of the week tended to kind of blend together, especially since he was busy studying whenever he had the free time. He’d been trying to stay as independent of Rath as he could but it wasn’t easy. If possible he wanted to enter the same university as Kirito but that didn’t give him much time to catch up. Thankfully Kirito didn’t mind helping him out in the least in spite of his obvious aversion to school. Until he’d heard of the rampant jump Kirito’s grades had done – from just above average to the top twenty – he had felt guilty. Afterwards he was somewhere stuck between distressed and proud. That Kirito could accomplish almost anything if he tried had been undeniable from the beginning and Eugeo had always admired his almost otherworldly best friend but… giving Kirito information had been pretty much the only thing Eugeo had been good for before. Now Eugeo could help him with nothing anymore. Even schoolwork, the only thing he had bested Kirito in, was now Kirito’s forte.

“K-Kirito”, he croaked, before he swallowed and tried again. “Welcome home.”

The corner of Kirito’s mouth tugged up while he went to his chair and put down the bag. Kirito’s room was uncomfortably empty. He had three monitors for some reason, a computer and a bookshelf full of books on computers and surprisingly enough some fantasy novels but save for one plant there was nothing to make the room seem warmer or more lived in.

Well, there was the Nerve Gear on his shelf, but while that certainly did hold sentimental value, he was just mostly surprised Kirito’s family hadn’t burned that thing in a bonfire in their backyard.

“I’m home, how is your headache?”, Kirito brushed Eugeo’s hair aside to touch his forehead, he was strangely gentle sometimes for a person who had duped Eugeo into going into one of these monstrosities Kirito called attractions and have him be thrown around like he was a ping-pong ball. At least he had seemed contrite enough afterwards.

Despite himself, he found himself leaning into his touch, humming lightly at the soothing cold. “I’m fine”, he muttered. A lie but not really because Kirito was here now after all. “I’m sorry for bothering you yesterday. I don’t remember anything anymore but if I’m here you must have come to get me and it must have been late…”

Not to mention that Kirito’s date with Asuna meant that he had to leave only forty minutes after Eugeo, which probably meant that considering Asuna’s and Kirito’s usual length of a date – currently steadily declining – and the length of these social gatherings Eugeo found himself sometimes dragged to, he’d been in bed for a few hours at most until Eugeo’s ineptitude had forced him out of it. He hadn’t planned on getting drunk but he still shouldn’t have attended the meeting today just because he had been feeling agitated. Why hadn’t he just studied instead?

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t that late. You passed out pretty much right away, so you’d only been gone for around two hours by the time I was called.”

Eugeo squinted at him, noticing something odd about Kirito’s sentence even through the pounding pain. “But the meeting place is around one hour and fifteen minutes away.” Then Eugeo had gotten drunk enough to pass out _in less than an hour? _

And also, what in Stacia’s name had happened to Kirito’s date?

Kirito snorted and retracted his hand to Eugeo’s misfortune who bit down the noise of unhappiness wanting to leave him. “It’s a new record, Eugeo-kun”, Kirito added teasingly.

“Wait, you were called? By whom? And what about your date?” If Eugeo had passed out he couldn’t have possibly called him.

Kirito opened on of his drawers, his shoulders drawn up. “Oh, I was – I didn’t know I still had that shirt – I was called by one of your coworkers. You apparently didn’t set a password for your phone, so they didn’t have any troubles contacting the ‘Kazuto’ who took you home the last few times. You finally changed the name of my entry, I’m glad.” For a second it didn’t seem like Kirito would say more but then he added another sentence almost in a rush, like Eugeo wouldn’t think too hard about it if he said it fast enough. “Don’t worry about it, the date thing was fine, you didn’t bother me.”

That didn’t sound too good.

Looking at it, there was surprisingly much clothing in Kirito’s wardrobe, despite how tiny it was, though wardrobe was a questionable term for the piece of furniture Kirito was currently searching through. Was anything with clothing inside a wardrobe just out of principle or not? If not then it wasn’t a wardrobe. “I told you I would change it”, Eugeo finally answered after being distracted for a few seconds.

“But you still haven’t changed the way you address me.”

“I’m working on it”, he conceded because even he had to admit that his tries mostly consisted of a row of failures.

Kirito startled laughing unabashedly, his shoulders shaking, and while Eugeo tried to frown, he knew he was failing, the corner of his lips turning up just on their own. He had always been weak to Kirito’s smiles.

“I don’t really mind”, Kirito confessed when he was finally ready, mirth still glinting in his eyes. “Not when you say it.”

“Then you mind it when others say it?”

Kirito bit his lip before he sighed and sat down on the corner of the bed. “_Kirito _is a different kind of existence to you than it is to them.”

“I’m not quite sure what you mean. I never – I know you are called Kazuto in this world but I grew up with Kirito and studied two years with Kirito. However you also lived a life as Kazuto, so if you prefer that name, I don’t mind calling you by it. You’re you after all.”

“That’s why it’s different. They know Kirito, the hero, you know Kirito… your dashing best friend.”

“For the record that’s not the description I’d have used.”

“Eugeo-kun, you need to be nice at these moments.”

“I’d have called you charming.”

“C-Charming?”, Kirito blinked, thrown off-kilter. “There’s no need to go that far, I wasn’t _actually_ sad—“

“Or dazzling? Shining?”

“Now you are just making fun of me, cut it out.”

He hadn’t really. Well, he had but he hadn’t been lying exactly. All of the adjectives he had just named were definitely fitting but Kirito had already drawn a line there and Eugeo didn’t have enough confidence to admit the truth. That Kirito was bright and gentle. That Eugeo was one of the people that couldn’t help but fall for his charms. “… Then why did you tell me to call you Kazuto if you don’t mind me calling you Kirito?”

“The others… they’re not going to understand why I can’t be Kirito for them.”

“You could tell them.”

Kirito shook his head. “I can’t.”

There was nothing Eugeo could add to that. He knew how it was not to want to share things with other people and Kirito was a pretty secretive person. Kirito had even recently admitted to him that Eugeo was the only person he felt that he could be open with and Eugeo would be lying if he said some part of him hadn’t been pleased.

“How’s Alice?”

Black eyes flickered over to him for a second. “The same as always.”

“And Asuna?”

Kirito made a half-shrugging motion before he gave up and let himself fall onto the bed, straight onto Eugeo’s legs. He made an unhappy sound upon contact but no move to stand up and Eugeo, despite the fact that it was less than comfortable, said nothing either. “Asuna’s fine too.”

“… And your relationship?”, he asked because just about everything about Kirito’s body language screamed unhappy.

Kirito sighed in response, stretching out his hand like he was trying to grasp something. “I don’t know. The date was really uncomfortable. I was honestly glad when I got the call, though I’ll need to apologize some more to Asuna. She seemed… upset. You haven’t been talking to Alice recently, have you? Why isn’t this working out?” Kirito’s hand fell back on the blanket.

Kirito’s problem with Asuna was fundamentally different from Eugeo’s as he had no intention of romancing Alice anymore but it wasn’t like he couldn’t empathize with him. Well, notwithstanding his own feelings, Alice also obviously still had something for Kirito, so it was doubly awkward. “My head hurts.”

“Do you want some aspirin?”

“Please.”

Squirming a little bit in place, Kirito finally sat up then stretched his back stiffly. “Do you want to play ALO with me?”

“With the others?”

“With you. And me”, Kirito pointed at each of them while grinning and Eugeo felt himself smile back without his input.

“Sure. Just you and me.”

After all, it had been just Kirito and Eugeo together for a long time, first as friends then as partners. Eugeo thought that it wasn’t so bad like this. It wasn’t perfect but it was more than he could have ever hoped for while fighting in the cathedral for their survival. He would need to study harder. They hadn’t been able to finish their education in the academy but going together to university would be fun. Eugeo would prefer Europe to the U.S. but just the thought of leaving the country and exploring a whole different culture together with Kirito made him happy. They could go to Europe next time, they had time. Most of all; anywhere with Kirito was fine really as long as they were together.

**Author's Note:**

> I have whooping 30 fanfictions currently in progress, what on earth am I doing? This one was basically finished some time ago but I completely forgot about it until today... double whoops.
> 
> On a completely different note if anyone’s confused why Eugeo is allowed to drink alcohol and Kirito is not, that’s because the age on his ID is the same as he had when he left underworld, so he isn’t considered a minor anymore. Kirito on the other hand is officially seventeen when he wakes up despite the years that passed in underworld.


End file.
